CAUTION: Please use this document as a general instruction type of doc rather an absolute way of assembling your RED kits. Be absolutely certain to do a full inventory of all components PRIOR to beginning your assembly.

NOTE: The first document listed above is the Step-by-Step build document for the E-Field Kit. The other two documents are a listing of all components included in the E-Field Kit as I received them. They have been assembled to make it easier for anyone building these kits to ensure all components were received and to separate them into two packages, one for the Amplifier and one for the Pre-Amplifier PCBs received in the kit. Please let me know if you do use it. Especially, if you find problems, typos or errors with any of these documents.

The E-field assembly document has a special warning regarding the F-connectors. Please read that document BEFORE you connect anything to the F-connectors.

NOTE: The above document is a copy of the first posting in the "Adding E Field Probe - Startup and Operation - not for construction" thread. It has been duplicated here due to the inability to print its contents out without some of the images being cut-off during the printing process. I have resized the images so they fit on the pages. I'll try to keep it up-to-date as changes are made to it.

Official GREEN and RED System Documentation can be found at the following link: NOTE: Current System RED Documentation is dated May 11, 2014

The following is documentation I have developed and based on the official Blitzortung documents that supports the Blitzortung RED Lightning System. It is in no way, sanctioned or approved by the Blitzortung group.

Added some RED system checklists and other misc documentation to the first post in this thread. Let me know if there are other references that I can add to the list to help those assembling the Blitzortung kits.

Added some RED system checklists and other misc documentation to the first post in this thread. Let me know if there are other references that I can add to the list to help those assembling the Blitzortung kits.

Added some RED system checklists and other misc documentation to the first post in this thread. Let me know if there are other references that I can add to the list to help those assembling the Blitzortung kits.

Wow, excellent! Thank you so much w3drm Regards,

Alessandro

Alessandro,

Glad I can help. I have also posted a new document that hopefully will be a "step-by-step" instruction manual for assembling the RED systems. See the first post in this thread for a link to this new "preliminary" document. As I state in the cover sheet, it is a work in progress and will be developed as I build my own RED system.

Thank you for the response. I have modified the document and reworded the ESD considerations and also added the diagonal cutters and solder pump to the list of suggested items. I also changed the solder paste to liquid solder flux and specified this is only for the SMDs. I never use solder flux on pcb through-hole components. You just don't need it.

Don,Thanks for this work. It takes time to document, and even more time to format a good looking sheet.

It may be a bit of overkill, but to be disappointed with a non-functioning (somewhat expensive) board is worth being a bit obsessive about it.

One expense many of us don't realize is that to use up one of the rare somewhat hard to get kits when a more dedicated or experienced assembler might have taken my botched assembly and successfully gotten another station on the air is something we normally don't think of in this world of plenty of everything.

Don,Thanks for this work. It takes time to document, and even more time to format a good looking sheet.

It may be a bit of overkill, but to be disappointed with a non-functioning (somewhat expensive) board is worth being a bit obsessive about it.

One expense many of us don't realize is that to use up one of the rare somewhat hard to get kits when a more dedicated or experienced assembler might have taken my botched assembly and successfully gotten another station on the air is something we normally don't think of in this world of plenty of everything.

Dale

Hi Dale,

Well, I know the feeling I had when I first opened the RED kit box. It has been a long time since I built a Heathkit type of device. There it was, a box full of loose parts and a couple of printed circuit boards - - now what do I do? Of course, I had read these various forum posts many time over and felt that I was ready for the kit to arrive. I guess you could say there was a fleeting moment of panic as I opened that box for the first time. That was the beginning of my journey to help calm down those fears by putting some documentation in place that would take the new or old assembler through a series of (hopefully) well thought-out steps. The result is the document I am putting together as I build my own RED system. Unfortunately, my build is taking longer than I had initially anticipated due to there being other parts of my life that also demand my time and thus keep me very busy. I hope to have this first phase with the amplifier board done in the next few days or so. Then it will be on to the controller board. So far, I am finding the build to be relatively easy. I just have to take my time. The components are pretty small and the soldering, while not difficult, takes a steady hand.

I will post new versions of the build document as I go through the process and will update the revision dates on the forum in this thread.

Thanks for doing this, Don. I wish I had had the benefit of such a guide while I was building my still-not-working Blitzortung Red system. (I have a dead ethernet controller (a replacement is on the way via e-bay) and the amplifier's grounding block soldered on backwards--I'm going to remedy that this morning.) It appears to be slowly coming along. I've successfully flashed firmware 4.4, and both boards seem to be working in spite of my efforts to botch the assembly at every turn.

One thing that's very misleading is the 'four hour' build time that I recall from some of the documentation. This is only going to be the case if you're very experienced at assembling this kit--there are way too many places to go wrong that aren't obvious and aren't mentioned near the assembly parts list. Lots and lots of time needs to be spent organizing the build, reading how to do it, and checking each step. Build a few hours a day and take as long as necessary. If you shoot for four hours on your first build, you'll shoot yourself in the foot big time (speaking from hard-won experience).

The photos of Red builds that are available in several threads in a couple of places [(1)(2) and (3)] need to somehow be included in the documentation. I finally saved them and also printed out the threads so I would have them available for reference.

This documentation you're working on should help fill a real need, Don.

Thanks for the comments and inputs. I completely agree that 4 hours build time is not the normal length of time it takes to build the RED system. For those who are essentially novices with little or no soldering experience, it will take much more time to build the kit. Basically, IMHO this kit is not one for beginners although a novice can build it, providing they take the time to concentrate at each and every step along the way. This is where a document like I am putting together will help as it gives you focus on what needs to be done next and also shows how to do it. I guess you could say that patience is paramount. Without it, you are almost guaranteed to have problems along the way.

I do plan to insert some images in the document to assist but that will come later in the development.

Thanks again for the inputs. Please feel free to pass on any suggestions or corrections needed.

Thanks for the comments and inputs. I completely agree that 4 hours build time is not the normal length of time it takes to build the RED system. For those who are essentially novices with little or no soldering experience, it will take much more time to build the kit. Basically, IMHO this kit is not one for beginners although a novice can build it, providing they take the time to concentrate at each and every step along the way. This is where a document like I am putting together will help as it gives you focus on what needs to be done next and also shows how to do it. I guess you could say that patience is paramount. Without it, you are almost guaranteed to have problems along the way.

I do plan to insert some images in the document to assist but that will come later in the development.

Thanks again for the inputs. Please feel free to pass on any suggestions or corrections needed.

If there was some way to add the "gotchas" into the checklist like the lay-down capacitors (C44, C45, C55, C56) and similar items it would help. The mention about laying down the caps was buried in later verbiage in the RED PDF instructions. I read it, but forgot about it. The round silk-screen symbolization doesn't help either.

It seems that there were a couple of other items that you had to jump around in the documentation to be able to catch.

If there was some way to add the "gotchas" into the checklist like the lay-down capacitors (C44, C45, C55, C56) and similar items it would help. The mention about laying down the caps was buried in later verbiage in the RED PDF instructions. I read it, but forgot about it. The round silk-screen symbolization doesn't help either.

It seems that there were a couple of other items that you had to jump around in the documentation to be able to catch.

Maybe a small note on these parts in the checklist would help.

Greg H.

I fully agree with you, Greg.

A couple of other 'gotcha's are the orientations of the star resistors and the electrolytic capacitors...and don't forget about the terminal blocks that should be facing outward. These are things that tripped me up. I'm an old 'Heathkit' builder, not an experienced circuit board jockey.

This is exactly "why" I am putting together this document. It is meant for those who aren't at the "5" level or are very rusty (like myself). The old Heathkits used much larger discrete components whereas this kit uses very small parts by comparison and are a bit more difficult to see the values on them as well just to handle (especially with stiff old fingers). As for the gotchas, I will put them in the documentation so others will have them at the correct point in the assembly steps when they need them. The amplifier board really doesn't have any critical gotchas except for the orientation of the leads and order of assembly which I'm already doing. The controller board will have more "gotcha's" due to the things you both have already mentioned.

BTW, I finished up my Amplifier board late last night and plugged it in to the 5v. The result was the four flashes of the yellow leds along with the red power led being lit. I could hit the reset button and the sequence would repeat. So, I guess that means that the board is basically working. Won't know for sure though until I feed a signal into it from the antenna but that is down the road.

I hope to get the last part of the written instructions for the Amplifier board done tonight. Will post the updated document once that is done.

BTW, I finished up my Amplifier board late last night and plugged it in to the 5v. The result was the four flashes of the yellow LEDs along with the red power led being lit. I could hit the reset button and the sequence would repeat. So, I guess that means that the board is basically working. Won't know for sure though until I feed a signal into it from the antenna but that is down the road.

If you turn the trim pot, you should see something resembling a binary counter on the LEDs. That would be another check you could make.

Also, at the highest gain, you might be able to see the noise on an AC voltmeter scale up/down with the pot measuring at the test point headers.

Great work on the documentation project, it will be really helpful to those building up kits.

There is one more gotcha... If someone should want to order the included "5v" USB power supply... don't. IF you had it included and are still building, don't bother using it. Unless they've changed it, it will be a European 50 Hz 220 V. Should you be tempted to modify the plug, you'll only get about 3.5 - 4V out of it...

Should you break your 8mm 2 pin controller ground terminal block, as I eventually did, they can be attained various places... (It's easy to 'twist them' after mounting and screwing the tension, breaking the pin into the board) I used a tiny drop of hot glue under my replacement, just for reinforcement. Additionally, make sure you have the base flush tightly to the board. I ordered these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0079SJP7U/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 since the price was right and no shipping, and I wasn't in a hurry. Took about 10 days.

BTW, I finished up my Amplifier board late last night and plugged it in to the 5v. The result was the four flashes of the yellow LEDs along with the red power led being lit. I could hit the reset button and the sequence would repeat. So, I guess that means that the board is basically working. Won't know for sure though until I feed a signal into it from the antenna but that is down the road.

If you turn the trim pot, you should see something resembling a binary counter on the LEDs. That would be another check you could make.

Also, at the highest gain, you might be able to see the noise on an AC voltmeter scale up/down with the pot measuring at the test point headers.

Great work on the documentation project, it will be really helpful to those building up kits.

Greg H.

Thanks Greg H,

I did rotate the pot and the leds changed states. Only used my fingernail so didn't notice of they tended to be counting up or down. Will look at that later when I get a chance.

Won't have a chance to update my document tonight as I have a meeting to go to that I had forgot about and will be busy all day tomorrow. Should have time this weekend though. Dang, why do other priorities get in the way so much???

There is one more gotcha... If someone should want to order the included "5v" USB power supply... don't. IF you had it included and are still building, don't bother using it. Unless they've changed it, it will be a European 50 Hz 220 V. Should you be tempted to modify the plug, you'll only get about 3.5 - 4V out of it...

Should you break your 8mm 2 pin controller ground terminal block, as I eventually did, they can be attained various places... (It's easy to 'twist them' after mounting and screwing the tension, breaking the pin into the board) I used a tiny drop of hot glue under my replacement, just for reinforcement. Additionally, make sure you have the base flush tightly to the board. I ordered these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0079SJP7U/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 since the price was right and no shipping, and I wasn't in a hurry. Took about 10 days.

Yes, Egon warned me about the 5v supply they are offering. I was not aware that it was a 220V version and may not work correctly here in the US. I purchased both the 5v PS and the GPS antenna from the US. I haven't gotten the Shielded Cat-5 cables just yet as I am not sure exactly where I am going to put the antenna and controller board. I'll probably just pick up a couple shorter cables until I find a good location for the antenna.

When I built up the Eastern Voltage Research Lightning Detector 1.0 kit, I thought the instructions were pretty good. Heathkit-like, with a check list for each part insertion and special notes. It might be inspirational.

When I built up the Eastern Voltage Research Lightning Detector 1.0 kit, I thought the instructions were pretty good. Heathkit-like, with a check list for each part insertion and special notes. It might be inspirational.

Okay, this is embarrassing - this morning I was looking for a printout of an old Blitzortung related post that contained numerous hints for kit assembly and now I can't find it. It must have gotten tossed accidentally. So, I started searching the forums for the same thread and can't seem to find it. Does anyone know where I can find the thread that contains numerous hints to building the RED kit? I thought it might have been something that miraculon had put together but so far, I'm unable to locate it. I want to make certain I have all of these hints and other "tips" included in my build document.

I have looked on this forum, the usatoa and Blitzortung forums with no luck.

I had a few moments, couldn't find exactly what you were referring to...either They're really spread out through threads.Perhaps we need to start a couple of special threads..,.designate a specific member for each area to start and 'monitor' the threade,g1 prep including mindset! Especially for those below level 5 2 different approaches to sorting parts and methods of placement 3 amp assy4 controller assy5 OperationThen, as we post our experiences and suggestions in an area, without worrying about duplicating stuff to enable 'free flow' thinking. Then that 'thread owner' could do a 'running' collation, combining theminto a 'most recent post' in that thread.... as a marker, and also adding them back into the 1st post, then see if we can 'close' it after a certain deadline you might choose???? Mike

Great ideas! I would add to that list some kind of "pre-prep" or "order" details. As Egon has suggested, those of us in the USA and probably those in other locations around the world who are a long way from Germany should consider ordering only the basic items (kit #4, as Egon refers to it - which is sans the cables, 5V USB PS, STM32F4DISCOVERY board, and GPS antenna). That reduces the cost for shipping considerably. It may also reduce the overall cost as some items may be able to be purchased more cheaply locally than from Egon. There is also the issue of using a 5V USB power supply for the local power in use. Here in the US all power is 110V 60Hz, while it varies elsewhere around the world. Some areas may not work correctly on other power systems. A list of those items along with where to buy them would be most helpful to anyone just beginning on the Blitzortung journey.

It is my opinion we should also be very careful how we name our threads so we can easily distinguish which particular kit is being referred to. If you look at the Blitzortung.org internal forum, you will find tons of information but much of it pertains to the older GREEN kit and not the RED kit we are building today. I am sure there will be new versions of the RED kit that will need to have their own individual threads. Thus, we need to develop a strategy or naming convention so future threads will be easy to identify and save everyone time when they are looking for specific kit information. One way would be to have the forum administrators add child boards under the main Blitzortung forum for each of the various versions. The only problem with that is that it requires more work of the administrators.

So, let's start talking about this now BEFORE we begin to develop threads as you have suggested. Both Ken (saratogaWX) and Chris (SLOweather) are active adminstrators so hopefully they can chime in with their thoughts on this subject.

Another thing I have noticed is that the WXFORUM.NET forum seems to be much more active than the USATOA.COM forum, for whatever reason. So, the WXFORUM will probably be the best place to have these special Blitzortung threads.

Mike, The only problem with that is that it requires more work of the administrators.

So, let's start talking about this now BEFORE we begin to develop threads as you have suggested. Both Ken (saratogaWX) and Chris (SLOweather) are active adminstrators so hopefully they can chime in with their thoughts on this subject.

Another thing I have noticed is that the WXFORUM.NET forum seems to be much more active than the USATOA.COM forum, for whatever reason. So, the WXFORUM will probably be the best place to have these special Blitzortung threads.

Whoa! Maybe our brainstorm sounds good, , but let's chill a moment..., and evaluate/brainstorm this "off board" with PMs, or other personal, to/from all interested. Also one of the reasons TOA forum is less active is many of us tend to naturally come here out of long habit, for convenience, familiarity perhaps, but we must not ignore TOA and the main BT forums! They are the project, so to speak. And many of us here in the US, for example, are the 'new kids' on the block... The BZT team is busy enough without trying to follow 3 or 4 forums and many of our more experienced European and other WW friends may very well not monitor WxForum... (yet !).Being somewhat familiar with SMF, there are several ways this could be handled, and my first thought of such 'brainstorming' threads views them as 'temporary' anyway, if you follow me. hmmm.,.. as I typed this I had another idea. Watch for PM.

Okay, this is embarrassing - this morning I was looking for a printout of an old Blitzortung related post that contained numerous hints for kit assembly and now I can't find it. It must have gotten tossed accidentally. So, I started searching the forums for the same thread and can't seem to find it. Does anyone know where I can find the thread that contains numerous hints to building the RED kit? I thought it might have been something that miraculon had put together but so far, I'm unable to locate it. I want to make certain I have all of these hints and other "tips" included in my build document.

I have looked on this forum, the usatoa and Blitzortung forums with no luck.

Thanks,

I can't seem to make a direct URL link, since anything I try takes you to the login screen.Here is something that might be of interest. The author/subject/date should help you find it.Is this possibly the one you are thinking of?

In the USAToa forum, under "Hardware Discussions" > "Building a System"